Latest News - Page 45 of 121 - Shared Hope International

December 21, 2016 by Susanna Bean

Partnering to Serve DMST Survivors

Like many minor victims of sex trafficking, Sofia* felt isolated and unsure, but adding to her anxiety was her inability to speak English; she simply couldn’t understand the help offered by the Department of Child and Family Services. This is when the department reached out to Saving Innocence, a survivor assistance program supported in part by Shared Hope. Fortunately, our support in 2016 enabled them to hire their first bi-lingual case manager, Jasmine. Jasmine’s language and professional skills working with survivors were just what Sofia needed.

Sofia took the phone and Jasmine began talking with her, speaking in Spanish. She began to feel at ease as Jasmine explained the medical care that the DCFS social worker could offer. Jasmine encouraged her to get the medical check and Sofia finally agreed. Even though this interaction was brief, Sofia felt cared for because she was understood.

These moments of care happen each time case managers at Saving Innocence come to the aid of survivors of trafficking. Because of your financial support to Shared Hope you are a part of the care being offered. To see what that means to survivors of trafficking check out the video below: A Day in the Life of a Case Manager. It illustrates their work, and the role you play too as you support the efforts of our partner organizations.

This December your impact on the lives of survivors will be doubled through a generous matching grant. All gifts, up to $150,000 will be doubled if given before December 31^st. Help us support survivors of trafficking by giving at this link.

Our passion to see child sex trafficking survivors restored and empowered is a central theme of our work. Not only do we help provide services through our partners; we work to affect the systems that serve trafficked youth at every level. Your support enables us to strengthen laws through our Protected Innocence Challenge so victims have avenues to comprehensive services, your support helps us research and promote best practices for serving trafficking survivors through our JuST Response Council, and you help us offer training to professionals interacting with trafficking survivors.

With a gift of financial support this Christmas season you can join us in making sure that every survivor of trafficking receives comprehensive services from caring professionals.

*Name changed to protect confidentiality.

December 13, 2016 by Susanna Bean

Reshma and Angel’s Story of Hope

Reshma was little more than a child herself when she was lured from her remote village in Nepal to Kathmandu— then enslaved by a bar owner who sold girls for sex along with the drinks. Soon she found she was pregnant…and regardless of the means, she was in love with the baby she carried. Friendless and terrified in the tumult of Kathmandu, she silently promised her “Angel” a future. When she heard of a missionary couple who would gladly take the baby, the decision was made. Reshma surrendered Angel at birth, then found her way to a place an acquaintance told her about where she might stay for a while. That place was Asha Nepal, a partner organization that Shared Hope helped establish and faithfully supports.

The tiny young mother, sick emotionally and physically, was gently carried to a bed for the rest and care she needed so badly. In her fevered dreams she heard children shouting…and upon fully awakening, realized this was real…the place she thought was a home for cast-off women was full of children! Horrified, Reshma realized she had not needed to give up her Angel and begged Asha Nepal’s founder to help get her back. Through prayer and some artful negotiation, Angel was placed in the arms of her beaming mother who proceeded to keep her promise to Angel for a future. They spent over three years as part of the Asha Nepal family, and in 2016, gainfully employed, Reshma and Angel moved into their own small apartment in Kathmandu.

Your support made this story of restoration possible. And it is your commitment to Shared Hope and women like Reshma which inspires us to keep fighting to end child sex trafficking.

November 22, 2016 by Susanna Bean

4 Ways to Give on #GivingTuesday

Here are a few simple ways to give back on #GivingTuesday to support the life-saving work of Shared Hope International.

1) Amazon Smile

Knock out that Christmas shopping AND donate to Shared Hope! When you start your shopping at smile.amazon.com, you get the same prices as the regular Amazon.com, and Amazon donates 0.5% of your purchases to Shared Hope! Simply go to smile.amazon.com instead of amazon.com, enter “Shared Hope International” as the charitable organization you want to support, and shop as you normally would! We’ll get a check at the end of the quarter that includes the contribution from your purchase.

2) Double your Gift

Thanks to several generous partners – your #GivingTuesday donation will go twice as far to help vulnerable women and children, through our $150,000 Christmas Hope Matching Challenge. Please give today to double your gift and help support prevention, restoration and justice solutions for victims of trafficking.

This year you can also use this fundraising platform to create and promote your own #GivingTuesday fundraiser for Shared Hope! Simply click the red, “Become a Fundraiser” button and follow the steps to create your own page to raise money for Shared Hope. Invite all your friends to support Shared Hope on #GivingTuesday.

3) Donate through the Combined Federal Campaign

The Combined Federal Campaign allows Federal civilian, postal and military donors to pledge a financial contribution to support eligible non-profit organizations that provide health and human service benefits. The CFC is the world’s largest annual workplace charity campaign that helps to raise millions of dollars each year. To contribute to Shared Hope International through your organization’s CFC, submit this number: #60601 to your human resources or payroll department. The minimum monthly contribution is $1.00.

4) Donate Stock or Estate Funds

If you have appreciated stock or property, you can greatly benefit from wise tax planning and giving by December 31, 2016, through a couple of different options:

A cash gift, dated and postmarked by December 31, 2016.
Gifts of appreciated stock or property. An asset that you’ve had for over a year, which has increased in value, can be donated to Shared Hope, and you may avoid capital gains tax. You also get the applicable charitable deduction for this year’s taxes.

For help in planning your special gift, please contact Sheila Avery, Senior Director of Finance for Shared Hope International, at 1-866-HER-LIFE (1-866-437-5433) or email Sheila@sharedhope.org

November 17, 2016 by Susanna Bean

Despite Sex Trafficking Laws, Kids Can be Charged with Prostitution in Majority of States While Exploiters Walk Away

WASHINGTON, D.C., Every state now has a law covering child sex trafficking according to an annual State Report Card released by Shared Hope International (SHI), the only U.S. NGO working in every state to end child sex trafficking through legal reform.

“But kids can still be prosecuted as criminals in 31 states because law has not kept up with reality – the reality is that these children are victims of sex trafficking and cannot be criminals at the same time for the same thing,” said SHI founder Linda Smith, at a press conference in Orlando, FL where the National Foundation for Women Legislators is meeting.

SHI started the annual report card—known as the Protected Innocence Challenge—six years ago, in 2011, when 26 states got Fs and 15 had Ds. This year 30 states have As and Bs.

While she commended legislators and activists for the progress they have made, “We must stop criminalizing kids for crimes committed against them!” declared Smith. “Domestic minors are twice condemned: first by sex buyers and the voracious commercial sex trade, then by the juvenile justice system.”
“Only when buying sex becomes very costly—meaning steep fines and jail time—will we be able to prevent this crime from happening in the first place,” Linda observed. Shared Hope research shows that a very small percentage of buyers are arrested and even fewer do time.

Although the majority of minors identified in the commercial sex industry are girls, an increasing number of service providers across the U.S. say young men are victimized too.

Dr. Brook Bello, founder of More Too Life and Florida’s 2016 Advocate of the Year, has worked with hundreds of sex trafficking survivors.
Regarding sex buyers, Dr. Bello admonished, “Bringing cash to the scene of the crime should not give you immunity.”

Alyssa Beck, Survivor Advocate said, “The system failed me at age 15 by not recognizing that I was a victim. Instead I was arrested. Men who bought sex with me were never brought to justice.”

Linda Smith, served as a state legislator and Member of Congress from Washington State (1983-1998), and is the author of Renting Lacy (2009). She founded Shared Hope in 1998.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Susanna Bean
717.608.1039
Susanna@sharedhope.org

MEDIA MATERIALS:
For media convenience, a variety of resources are available at our Press Center. Video clips, including sex trafficking survivor comments, are available at this location: https://vimeo.com/user12564384/videos. Videos are password protected, please enter password sharedmedia1 to access media clips.

November 17, 2016 by Susanna Bean

National Foundation of Women Legislators Passes Resolution on Child Sex Trafficking

Today at the annual conference for the National Foundation of Women Legislators the members passed an important resolution on child sex trafficking. Shared Hope International has worked with NFWL to craft a resolution that addresses the key issues currently confronting legislators responding to child sex trafficking victims.

You can read the whole resolution below.

Resolution regarding the critical importance of improving protections for child sex trafficking victims.

WHEREAS child sex trafficking is a form of modern slavery that exploits some of the most vulnerable members of society;

WHEREAS online exploitation has exponentially expanded the market for child victims who are bought and sold through online classified websites and other online venues developed around the commercial sex market;

WHEREAS child sex trafficking victims suffer serious trauma resulting from commercial sexual exploitation, regardless of whether they have an identified trafficker;

WHEREAS buyers of sex with children are central perpetrators in the crime of sex trafficking and failure to address the conduct of buyers as a crime of sex trafficking creates barriers to critical protections, services and resources for child victims;

WHEREAS children, who cannot consent to engage in commercial sex, must not be criminalized for commercial sexual conduct that is inherent to their victimization;

WHEREAS children who are exploited through commercial sex are victims of sex trafficking in need of specialized, trauma-informed services in lieu of being arrested and detained for their own victimization; and

WHEREAS strong state laws are critical to preventing children from becoming victims of sex trafficking and for protecting those children who have been exploited; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that members of the National Foundation of Women Legislators—

(1) strongly condemn the crime of child sex trafficking;

(2) recognize the need for states to develop mandatory response laws on behalf of child sex trafficking victims that ensure access to services and resources for recovery;

(3) call on every state to set a clear goal and plan for eliminating criminalization of minors for commercial sexual conduct and other conduct that is a result of their trafficking victimization; and

(4) urge every state to statutorily recognize all commercially sexually exploited children as child sex trafficking victims and align the state sex trafficking law with the reality that children are exploited by both traffickers and buyers by ensuring both types of offenders are acknowledged as perpetrators under the state’s core sex trafficking law.